In a time where social media has allowed conspiracies to run wild at a rampant pace, Erin Berry’s Majic feels timely and oddly timeless. The film itself takes place in 2008, a time when vlogging and podcasting was still considered the new frontier, however, it could easily feel at home in the 1990s when shows like the X-Files were at their peak.

Feeling right at home amongst the best conspiracy inspired tales, Majic revolves around an anti-conspiracy video blogger, Bernwood (Paula Brancati), as her latest investigation leads her down an unexpected rabbit hole of coverups and deceit. A self-proclaimed atheist who only cares about facts, she is skeptical of anything where people can cherry pick facts to suit their own narrative.

While her agent Eastman is hoping that she will monetize her online fame through advertising, Bernwood is more concerned with debunking a myth involving the infamous Majestic-12 (aka Majic); a secret government entity that has been linked to the UFO incident at Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. Though she is convinced that the Roswell urban legend was a hoax, an encounter with the elderly Anderson (Richard Fitzpatrick), who claims to have worked for the agency, will have her second guessing what is fact and what is fiction.

Driven by Erin Berry’s and David Pluscauskas’ incredibly sharp and engaging screenplay, Majic breaks away from convention to create something truly unique. There are several nods to conspiracy films of the past, but this film marches to its own beat. Berry constructs a tale that demands multiple viewings to catch all the subtle clues for the various twists and turns.

One of the wonderful aspects of this film is its ability to keep its complex plot coherent even as it plays with theories related to time, space and beyond. A lot of this has to do with Paula Brancati’s strong and layered work as Bernwood. Brancati keeps the film grounded even as her character’s paranoia grows at an expedient rate. All of this makes for a brilliantly constructed science fiction mystery that will satisfy anyone who has pondered conspiracy theories even for a moment.